Projectile



March 29, 1938.

L. V. S. BLACKER PROJECTILE Filed Dec. 2, l93

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROJECTILE Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker, Coates, near Fittleworth, England Application December 2, 1936, Serial No. 113,930 In Great Britain May 4, 1935 7 Claims.

This invention relates to projectiles and aims at devising a projectile suitable for quelling mob riots and like disturbances, without killing or seriously injuring the rioters.

An object of the invention is to provide a projectile, capable of being fired by a suitable weapon to a range of say 100 to 300 yards, and being of such weight and construction as to knock unconscious, but not to kill any person whom it strikes within its range.

According to the invention a projectile is provided comprising a body portion of' elongated formation and a forward head or nose portion of closed or solid form constructed of rubber or other yieldable material, the radius of the head or nose portion being greater than that of the orbit of the human eye.

The body portion may be crushable and may be formed of paper, plastic hard rubber or light metal or the like and may be so constructed as to telescope within itself upon said head or nose portion impacting with an object or the ground.

The body portion may be of hollow construction and arranged to contain a charge of stupefying material adapted to be discharged upon the projectile striking an object or the ground.

The invention will be more completely understood from the following description, which is given in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates in part sectional elevation one convenient form of projectile in accordance with the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the projectile comprises a head or nose portion a of soft rub- 35 ber, e. g. sponge rubber and a rear or body portion b of harder material, e. g. paper, hard rubber or metal. The nose or head portion a is substantially hemispherical in shape and with a view to avoiding localized injury is given a 40 radius greater than that of the orbit of the human eye.

The body portion b is a thin shell of light metal, or other material, e. g. aluminium and is shaped to give, with the head, a suitable stream- 45 line shape to the projectile, and in order to ensure that the projectile shall travel nose first during flight, the rear end of the body portion b is provided with tail fins c which are preferably mounted so as to rotate the missile during flight.

50 The body portion b is of frusto-conical shape,

and the larger end takes the form of a cupshaped forward mouth I engaging at its open end with the open end of an inverted cup-shaped portion g which thus forms an inwardly pro- 55 jecting end portion to the body b and provides a firm grip and/or support for the rubber head or nose a.

These two cup-shaped portions f and g are provided with sufficient tension to enable them to grip one another in the position shown, but 5 upon the projectile striking an object, the inverted cup 9' is adapted to telescope within the cup I, or vice versa thus providing a cushioning effect in addition to that provided by the rubber nose or head a. 10

Furthermore, the cushioning effect may be further enhanced by making the walls of the body portion sufficiently thin and of such material as to render them crushable upon the projectile striking an object. 15

The body portion b may have a suitable central tube or rod 11 whereby the projectile (which although non-explosive otherwise resembles a grenade) can be fired by a suitable weapon, and for this purpose the hinder end portion h of tlus 2o tube is adapted to receive a propulsive charge 7' of explosive whilst the projector is preferably provided with an adjustable gas port for regulating the range. In the forward portion 1 of the tube d, separated from the hinder portion h by a plug 11, 25 there may be provided a suitable supply of combustible or explosive k (e. g. any convenient form of rocket composition), with the necessary fuze or like igniting means, in order to maintain a prearranged velocity during flight after the projectile has been fired and enabling the projectile to be given a long range without a high initial velocity.

If necessary, e. g. to position the centre of gravity correctly, the projectile may be loaded with lead or other suitable weights 1 embedded in the rubber, and if desired the cavity e, formed by the two cup-shaped members J and 9, may be filled with a charge m of inflammatory material, tear gas or other substance, e. g. lachrymatory, vesicant, stupefying or smoke producing, adapted to be ignited and/or discharged when the projectile strikes an object or the ground, the walls of the cup-shaped members 1 and g being provided with perforations n so as to allow the contents of the space e to escape upon the members 1 and g becoming telescoped. These perforations are preferably covered with varnished paper 0 or the like in order to provide a closure for the holes until the moment of impact, and suitable detonating means may be provided for igniting the material on the projectile striking an object or the ground or on discharge. Alternately, the material to be discharged may be housed within a cavity provided for it in the rubber nose a, or

in any other suitable position in the body of the projectile.

The efficacy of the projectile will depend upon its terminal energy at the desired range, and the present invention contemplates a terminal energy of 30 to 100 ft. pounds over ranges from say 100 to 250 yards. The projectile may have a total Weight of about 10 ounces of which about half may be contained in the rubber head portion and the remainder in the tail piece and fins. To modify these weights it may be desirable to employ other materials (e. g. vulcanite, of suitable strength to withstand the discharge shock, to form the tail and/or fins).

In a modification of the invention the projectile may be so constructed as to be used as a missile, suitable to be dropped from aircraft. In such modification the body of the missile is of substantial size and smooth, regular external shape'. Thus a substantially hemispherical nose portion preferably of soft rubber, e. g. sponge rubber, may merge into a harder rear portion of hard rubber, metal or other material, the whole being of conventional bomb-like shape, and being provided with tail members or fins, e. g. an attachment of aluminium or vulcanite or other material, to maintain correct attitude and/or movements during flight. The interior may be loaded with lead or other weights, correctly to position the centre of gravity, and may if desired have material for producing tear or other gas therein adapted to be discharged upon contact of the missile with a target or the ground. Since such a missile is not intended to be fired from a weapon, the tubular bore in the tail such as described above, and the propulsive charges contained therein, are dispensed with, and the tail is of closed or solid form suitably shaped. Energy considerations such as set out above in connection with the consideration of the eflicacy of the device as a projectile are applicable to determine the weight and final velocity to be employed.

It must be understood that the invention is not limited to the constructional details described above since modifications may be introduced as they become desirable under different conditions and requirements which have to be fulfilled, without departing in any way from the scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A projectile comprising a head portion of yieldable material, a body portion of harder material, an open cup-shaped portion secured to said body portion and an inverted cup-shaped portion secured to said head portion, the open ends of said cup-shaped portions making sliding contact with one another so as to form an enclosed space and so as to slide one within the other upon the projectile striking an object.

2. A projectile comprising a head portion of yieldable material, a body portion of harder ma.- terial, an open cup-shaped portion secured to said body portion and an inverted cup-shaped portion secured to said head portion, said cupshaped portions overlapping one another to form an enclosed space, and a charge of stupefying material housed in said space.

3. A projectile comprising a head portion of yieldable material, a body portion of harder material, an open cup-shaped portion secured to said body portion and an inverted cup-shaped portion secured to said head portion, said cupshaped portions cooperating with one another so as to form an enclosed space and to slide one within the other upon the projectile striking an object, a charge of inflammable material housed in said enclosed space and detonating means adapted to be ignited by the impact of said pro jectile with an object.

4. A projectile comprising a head portion of yieldable material, a body portion of harder material, an open cup-shaped portion with perforated walls covered with a readily destructible material secured to said body portion, an inverted cup-shaped portion also with perforated walls covered with a readily destructible material secured to said head portion, said cup-shaped portions overlapping one another to form an enclosed space.

5. A projectile comprising a body portion and a forward head portion, said body portion being attached to said head portion and being of elongated formation, said head portion being constructed of yieldable material and being of closed formation having a cross section greater than that of the human eye, a tubular rod attached to said body portion for enabling the projectile to be discharged from a suitable weapon, means for dividing the interior of said tubular member into two chambers, a propulsive charge of explosive in the rearmost chamber and a charge of combustible material in the forward chamber for maintaining the projectile in flight.

6. A projectile comprising in combination a head portion of yieldable material, having a cross section greater than that of the orbit of the human eye, a body portion of harder material and of elongated shape, a cup-shaped member attached to the forward end of said body portion and an inverted cup-shaped portion attached to said head portion and cooperating with the cupshaped member of said body portion to form an enclosed chamber, a hollow tubular member attached to the tail of said body portion, means for dividing the interior of said tubular member into two chambers and a plurality of fins surrounding the tail of said body portion.

7. A projectile comprising in combination a head portion of yieldable material, having a cross section greater than that of the orbit of the human eye, a body portion of harder material and of elongated shape, a cup-shaped member attached .o the forward end of said body portion, an inverted cup-shaped portion attached to said head portion and cooperating with the cupshaped member on said body portion to form an enclosed chamber, a charge of stupefying material in said chamber, a hollow tubular member attached to the tail of said body portion, means for dividing the interior of said tubular member into two chambers. a propulsive charge of explosive in the rearmost of said chambers, a charge of combustible material in the foremost of said chambers and a plurality of fins surrounding the tail of said body portion.

LATHAM VALENTINE STEWART BLACKER. 

